Jaded lawyer Eddie Dodd, a well-regarded activist in the 1960s whose moment has long passed, now smokes marijuana and defends drug dealers who pay in cash. But later he becomes transformed by taking on the case of Shu Kai Kim, a young Korean man who was imprisoned for a gang-related murder.
When I see Woods on the screen in the first shot of a movie I sort of smile to myself because I know that something strange and offbeat and maybe even inspired is about to happen.
Woods clearly relishes his chance to display a wide range of emotions within his patented maverick persona, and Downey also acquits himself well in a much less challenging role.
Woods' angry energy is clarifying as well as terrifying, and when he unleashes it (usually without warning), the effect is to focus our attention where it belongs, not on a suspense story but on the mysteries of human behavior.
